This invention relates to an attachment for an athletic shoe, and particularly a golf shoe, for the purpose of training or assisting a person in controlling weight shifts during the execution of a golf stroke.
Some golfers and golf instructors believe the manner in which a player controls the shifting of his weight during the back swing and fore swing of a golf club is a key consideration in executing all golf strokes other than a putt. Some of such persons espouse the theory that the foot farther from the target should be so positioned that the player""s weight is concentrated on that edge of his foot which is closer to the target. One way in which this theory can be put to practice is for the player""s foot to be elevated at that edge of the latter which is farther from the target. Thus, if the player is right handed, then according to this theory the outside or right edge of his right shoe should be raised during the execution of the golf stroke.
Several aids have been proposed heretofore for the purpose of assisting a player to control his weight shift during the execution of a golf stroke. Not all of them have been successful, however, for a variety of reasons. Among these are cumbersomeness, the inability to enable the player to use or forego use of the aid, and the inability to retrofit his existing shoes with the aid.
For several years traditional, single point golf spikes have been criticized as being damaging to the surfaces of putting greens and, in many cases, have been banned from use on golf courses. The traditional single point metal spikes, in many instances, have been replaced by yieldable traction devices usually comprising a circular body provided at its rim with a plurality of circumferentially spaced, ground engageable projections. Each of these traction devices conventionally is equipped with a threaded coupling which may be accommodated in a correspondingly threaded socket formed in the shoe bottom, at both the sole and heel portions thereof. As a result of this construction any of the traction devices is removable from its associated socket for replacement should the need arise.
A principal object of the invention is to provide means for assisting a player in shifting his weight theoretically correctly during the execution of a golf stroke and which is not subject to the disadvantages of previously known devices for the same or similar purpose.
Apparatus constructed in accordance with the invention comprises a shim which is adapted to be interposed between the bottom of a shoe and a traction member with which the shoe normally is provided. Conventional golf shoes have threaded sockets in the sole and heel portions of the shoe bottom. Traction members or cleats have threaded coupling projections which enable such members removably to be accommodated in the sockets. The traction members have ground engageable projections usually comprising circumferentially spaced lugs which provide traction for the shoe.
A shim according to the invention has a threaded coupling projecting from one face thereof for accommodation in a threaded socket of the shoe and, on its opposite face, a threaded socket corresponding to a threaded socket of the shoe. The socket of the shim thus is enabled to accommodate the threaded coupling projection of the traction member following its separation from the shoe and the shim may be interposed between the traction member and the shoe bottom, thereby positioning the traction member at a greater distance from the shoe bottom than it otherwise would be and elevating that portion of the shoe adjacent the shimmed traction member.
It is proposed to interpose a shim of the kind described between some, but not all, of the traction members with which the golf shoe originally is equipped. For example, two or three of the traction members adjacent one edge of the shoe may be shimmed, thereby causing that edge of the shoe to be positioned at a higher level above ground than the opposite side of the shoe bottom. It thus is possible for a player to retain all of the traction devices with which his shoes originally were equipped and to obtain the benefit of proper weight transfer during the execution of a stroke.
Since the coupling projection and the socket of the shim correspond to the coupling projections of the traction member and the sockets in the shoe bottom, the shim may be substituted for any one of the traction members and the latter may be coupled to the shim so that the shim occupies a portion between the shoe bottom and the traction member.